Surface Interval Bonaire's Fontein ep. 34 | A Diver's Life

Fontein, A secret oasis in the middle of Bonaire. Records of its existence go back as far as 1681 when then pirate and explorer, William Dampier, documented visiting Bonaire in his journal, A Voyage Around the World", and writes about the existence of true fresh water spring known today as Fontein. Today, few on Bonaire knows of its existence or only have feint memories of it from childhood. Imagine a desert island with an oasis, at its center ,having 30 foot almond trees, sugar cane, tall green grass, and ancient swimming pools at least as far back as 1928! Constant rains and wind reversals for the past month have made filming virtually impossible. So, in this episode we decided to introduce an A Diver's Life surface interval. What can you do when you can't dive and film? Well, you explore of course! In this episode we will take you on an adventure, on land, to Fontein and share with you its history. We show you old maps, of Bonaire, from archives dating as far back as 1794. We hope you will get to visit Fontein on one of your Bonaire diving surface intervals.

Important correction: Fontein was not sold to Fundashon Aruba Parke Nacional. The property is still owned by the Mansur family in Aruba. We apologize for the error. *

#bonaire
#adventure travel
#history
#nature
#bonaireisland
#caribbeanhistory
#scuba travel


=== Chapters ====
0:00 Monolog
3:12 A Diver's Life Intro
4:13 Opening
4:37 William Dampier and 1681 Bonaire
6:13 Fontein cartographic history and its spring
6:47 Ancient Fontein swimming pools
7:27 The famous L.D. Gerharts
8:08 Fontein Royal Barbecue for Queen Juliana and Prince Bernhard
8:26 Fontein First Visit
13:31 Fontein Beyond the Pools
15:31 Buchie Frans and restoring Fontein
20:59 Fundacion Nationale Aruba Acquires Fontein
=====

Music:
Blue - Eklo feat. Jordin Laine (RFM youtube)
Dirty Mac - Endless Love
Lord of the Dawn - Jesse Gallagher
Moonlight Dreams - Megan Wolford (Epidemic Sound)
Pale Blue Skies - Ethan Sloan (Epidemic Sound)
Take Me With - Trevor Kowalski (Epidemic Sound)
The Guiding Light - Christoffer Moe Ditlevs (Epidemic Sound)

Videography, Script, Narration, Post Production
Rich Schwerdtfeger

Cast:
Buchie Frans
Michael Pement
Doreen Schwerdtfeger
Simone Sweers
Fontein cleanup volunteers

Images:

Shipping goats in Bonaire to Curacao - Adolphe Debrot
L.D. Gerharts at Fontein - Dutch National Archives
L.D. Gerharts with glasses – Antilliaans Dagblad
KLM Stewardesses - https://blog.klm.com/the-first-stewar...
Playa Pariba Internment Camp - https://www.curacaohistory.com/files/...

1955 Fontein Estate Barbecue and royal visit by Queen Juliana and Prince Bernhard, of the Netherlands, by Willem Van De Poll:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Ca...)

1700s anchor 43 meters at Orange Pan by Rene Lipman
https://link.springer.com/article/10....

Brackish well near Orange Pan
https://link.springer.com/article/10....

Aerial Image Orange Pan
https://link.springer.com/article/10....

Topographic Map Orange Pan
https://link.springer.com/article/10....

1794 Map of Bonaire - Archivo Museo Naval de Madrid, PMNM, MN-25-C-5
https://link.springer.com/article/10....

1825 Map of Bonaire - National Archives, The Hague, 4.STS-178
https://link.springer.com/article/10....
1866 Map of Bonaire - Leiden University Library, Special Collections, 678062
https://link.springer.com/article/10....

1915 map Bonaire
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...

Dutch Merchant Fleet Hendrick Cornelisz Vroom - The Rijk Museum - http://www.rijksmuseum.nl/collectie/S...

Water Flow Fontein Image – Nexus interventions for small tropical islands: Case Study Bonaire

https://www.researchgate.net/publicat...

Dutch Sloop model 17th century:
https://www.startedsailing.com/need-f...

Chief of Caquetio Indians
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caqueti...

Slaves working orange pan
https://worldkid66.wordpress.com/2014...

Color image slaves transferring salt near obelisk A.A Bierman
https://www.blue-oceans.com/index.php...

1930 Fontein Entrance – Eithel Pourier

Old Images pool, Fontein sign, and pool wall paintings - Benjamin De Palm

Flamingos, Lora – Steve Ando